Migrating from NetWare to NT

Files and Folders
After you have successfully configured user and group information, you need to configure the migration of files and folders. From the Migration Tool for NetWare screen, select File Options. By default, Migration Tool for NetWare transfers all files and folders from the NetWare server during the migration process, with the exceptions of system or hidden files and three of the default directories created on a NetWare server: the \LOGIN, \SYSTEM, and \ETC folders. If you want to include these files or folders, you can select them from the Files, Files to Transfer screen. You can also exclude files or folders from the migration by clearing the Transfer Files check box.

By default, the Source Files listing on the File Options screen makes available all volumes on the NetWare system. You can delete or add these volumes by clicking Delete or Add. After you select a NetWare volume, you must specify its destination NT volume, share name, and folder by clicking Modify. In the Modify dialog box, you can transfer the NetWare volume files and folders to an existing share, or you can create a new share. To change a share's directory path, click Properties. To transfer data to a directory under an existing share, type the full path in the Subdirectory field. However, from this screen, you can't change the path for existing shares, only for new shares.

Selecting individual files and folders for transfer is straightforward. After you select the appropriate NetWare volume from the Source Files listing, choose the folder you want to view; then select specific files from the folder, as you see in Screen 4. Migration Tool for NetWare transfers folders and files that are selected. If a user creates a file on a NetWare volume after you complete the migration configuration, Migration Tool for NetWare will transfer that file if you are moving other files in the same folder.

Log Files
Now you have finished configuring the migration process. You have taken care of users, groups, files, and folders. The only other element to consider is log files. Log files help you determine whether a migration ran successfully. To set options for log files, select Logging on the main Migration Tool for NetWare screen. The default option is Verbose User/Group Logging. This option records the most information during a migration and includes summary information for files and folders and complete activity for users and groups. To reduce the size of the log file, you can clear this check box, so that you will record only user names and groups. The second logging option, Popup on Errors, causes the migration process to stop on each error and requires manual intervention. The Verbose File Logging option records all files and folders transferred and their source and destination directories.

You can view log files by first clicking Logging... on the main Migration Tool for NetWare screen. Then, click View Log Files to start the logview.exe program. Logview.exe displays the three log files that Migration Tool for NetWare creates during a migration: Error.LOG, Summary.LOG, and LogFile.LOG. As you see in Screen 5, page 122, Error.LOG contains a list of all errors that occurred. These errors include system errors, network errors, and user account names that were not transferred because of a conflict. Summary.LOG is a statistical file that contains migration information such as total running time, number of users and groups transferred, number of files transferred, number of name conflicts, and the total number of errors. LogFile.LOG contains a record of what successfully transferred and what failed as a result of an error. The file has sections pertaining to Supervisor defaults, user/group information, transfer options, and file information.

As I stated earlier, if the destination NT server is running FPNW, Migration Tool for NetWare can transfer user logon scripts. For this feature to work properly, you must transfer the necessary file and folders from the NetWare system, especially the \MAIL directory, where the login script files are stored. When the user logs on to the NT server, the logon script will run as the user's personal logon script.

Trial Migration
The best feature of Migration Tool for NetWare by far is its ability to perform a trial migration. The trial migration lets you tweak the configuration; you can run trials as many times as you like. A word to the wise: Use the trial migration. Treat it as your friend. It can save your career if you inadvertently set your migration options to walk over the top of your existing NT environment. During the trial migration, Migration Tool for NetWare doesn't transfer information between the source and destination systems; it only creates log files to inform you how the process went. The trial run creates the same three log files (Error.LOG, Summary.LOG, and LogFile.LOG) as the real thing. Each time you run the trial migration, Migration Tool for NetWare creates new log files and renames the previous log files, replacing the extension with an incremental number.

To start the trial migration, click Trial Migration on the main Migration Tool for NetWare window. Be warned that the program doesn't ask you to verify this action; the trial starts immediately. When the Verifying Information dialog box appears, the migration program is verifying user, group, file, directory, and volume information on the source NetWare system. When the verification is complete, the trial conversion begins. You can follow the progress of the conversion on a monitor, as you see in Screen 6.

The Real Thing
When you have successfully run the trial migration with no errors, you're ready to go for the real thing. The real migration is the same as the trial migration, except that it takes considerably longer. To start the migration, click Start Migration on the main Migration Tool for NetWare screen. As with the trial migration, no verification screen will ask whether you really want to start the process, although you can click Cancel at any time. On NetWare systems with many users, groups, files, or folders, the migration process can take quite a long time. Although migration time will vary with machine speed, memory, and network bandwidth, I've seen migrations that involve 1000 users and more than 100 groups take more than two hours to complete; so schedule accordingly.

When the migration process is finished, a final dialog box (shown in Screen 7) shows you statistics, including the number of users and groups transferred, the number of files transferred, and the total number of errors. If you have errors, check the log files to see what corrective action is necessary. If for some reason the migration fails, remember that you still have a complete and intact NetWare server that you can use to try again. Also, realize that you might have some significant work to do on the destination NT server to clean up user, group, file, and folder information.

Simplifying Migration
Migrating a NetWare 4.11 server to NT Server 4.0 is not difficult, but you can't take the process lightly. When used correctly, the Migration Tool for NetWare can save you hours of work and unnecessary headaches. I hope you can rest easier knowing that if you must ever migrate your NetWare servers to NT, you have the knowledge and the tools to do the job.